Once upon a time, Hollywood stars were worshipped like gods and goddesses. No photographers were trying to snap pants-less crotch shots as someone stepped from a car. Nor were they terrorizing people in traffic and threatening the lives of innocent bystanders with their self-aggrandizing stunts.

If you want to see an example of creativity as "intelligence having fun," watch the opening sequence from 1920's The Scarecrow as the 5'6" Buster Keaton and 6'3" Joe Roberts sit down to one of the most elaborately choreographed breakfasts you will ever see in your life.

There is a folk tale / fairy tale feel to this month's San Francisco Silent Film Festival. The festival's upcoming winter event, a now annual day-long series of screenings at the Castro Theater, takes place on Saturday, February 16.

Starring Freida Pinto as a poor, young Indian woman working at a hotel whose physical beauty catches the eye of the spoiled, wealthy son of an Indian businessman, Trishna rests on a painful foundation of rigid caste distinctions, male privilege, and the limited opportunities.

Most creative talents have a professional bag of tricks they like to employ in the course of creating art. From alliteration to asymmetry, from pointilism to pizzicato, these gimmicks help startle an audience and add to an artist's personal style.